Xbox One Update Adds Cortana (theguardian.com) 99
Microsoft announced on Monday that its Xbox One console is due for a big software update this summer. Cortana, the digital voice assistant will be made available to Xbox One users, the company said. If you're part of the Xbox Preview program, you will be able to test the feature starting this week. The Guardian reports: To communicate, players simply have to say "hey Cortana" -- a sentence that Microsoft claims is easier for the system to pick up than the old "Xbox" prompt. Players won't need Kinect, as any Xbox One headset with a microphone will suffice. Players will also be able to ask Cortana what their friends are doing on Xbox, and it's possible to invite friends into a Party chat via Cortana voice controls.
Re:So now, be sure to (Score:5, Insightful)
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Back on subject, I think I might actually like this feature. I do not have connect for my Xbox One and I've found it a bit burdensome to navigate in order to create groups with my brother to start playing a game together.
Guess I'll find out soon enough.
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Nothing like insulting a group of people while using incorrect grammar.
Back on subject, I think I might actually like this feature. I do not have connect for my Xbox One and I've found it a bit burdensome to navigate in order to create groups with my brother to start playing a game together.
Guess I'll find out soon enough.
Maybe you want to rethink what you just said.
When you use "Cortana" you do send all information to Microsoft's cloud where it can be used for who knows what. Don't believe me, well bring up your security settings for Windows 10 and look at what "Cortana" actually does. In addition, why don't you do a web search using something like "Cortana privacy concerns" or any phrase with "Cortana" and "privacy", then if you are happy with what that entails, "Be my guest".
I do have Windows 10 running on a virtual
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From a non-anonymous internet account.
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It's not law enforcement you should be worried about.
Re:So now, be sure to (Score:4)
Maybe they're not high-level criminals, or mentally-ill, and are just normal people who want to play some games. Most people, including kooks like you, just aren't interesting to law-enforcement.
What if there was a technology that could tell you the population's precise reaction to, I dunno, a political speech?
A technology that only the people in power have access to, not the opposing parties.
The end of democracy?
It might be closer than you think.
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What democracy?
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She's allowed to look at me naked only if she returns the favor.
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Pervert! Looking at the source code of innocent programs!
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AC talks big shit.
Anyone else bothered by the grammatical devolution (Score:1)
I was always uneasy to use the "Hey Siri" phrase, after having a whole lifetime with the phrase "Hey is for Horses" burnt into my head.
Well now Microsoft is doing it too. Why couldn't they all have used "Hello, Siri" (which I then could have always said in the "Hello Nurse" Animaniacs voice) or better yet a Jack Vance/Harry Potter-esqe "Siri, Attend!"
NO (Score:1)
Heeeey Abbott!
has been around since the '40s. Besides, HAY is for horses.
Missing the point of the quote (Score:1)
"Hey is for horses" is the common phrase used to indicate that "Hey" is a poor substitute for "Hello" and not to be used among the educated.
The phrase has nothing to do with what horses eat... silly AC.
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"Hey is for Horses" usually followed up by the retort "I guess your mother is a cow" to indicate the recipient's displeasure with the correction.
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It's allowed to be used amongst the education, however it's not to be used amongst the elite. At one time those were one and the same though.
Re:Anyone else bothered by the grammatical devolut (Score:4, Funny)
The Canadian version will use "Cortana, eh?".
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I mean, if these companies are going to make you feel like an idiot they may as well do a bit of marketing while they're at it.
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Unsold (Score:5, Insightful)
Still not excited about talking to inanimate objects, when I know they don't need me to talk to them to do what they're supposed to do.
Chatbots, Cortana, "OK Google" ... it all just makes me feel like they think I'm an idiot.
Maybe it's a personality thing? Maybe the people who carry on whole conversations with their dogs and cats would also like to talk to their computer instead of pushing a button, and I'm just not one of those people? But it seems crazy to me that anybody would want to complicate their life in that way. Just point to the menu option and click it. No whispering sweet nothings into your computer is needed.
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Re:Unsold (Score:5, Insightful)
I dunno man, it just seems like yelling "OK Mr Google could you please tell me the nearest theater where the Iron Man movie is playing" is a lot more of a pain in the ass than just keying "Iron Man" into a form and pressing return. And a lot more things can go wrong, requiring a do-over.
And it seems to me that one of the reasons we invented machines is because you can just use the machine, no questions asked. I might have to ask you to go harvest my wheat for me but I don't have to ask the combine harvester if it wants to do it. But now, what, they want to put voice interfaces on everything because it's going to make me feel closer to my combine harvester? That's nuts. It's a machine. Push the button. Why complicate it further?
It really feels like these "genius" tech companies are starting to come up with solutions that nobody asked for, and now they're desperately trying to create problems that their solutions can solve.
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I use the voice commands on my Xbox One all the time to control my TV and have yet to have Microsoft break into my house to steal all my remotes. I also use voice commands to control a lot of features in my car even though there are also buttons on my display that do the same thing. I'm assuming from the level of vitriol against voice controls in your post that Google offered them to you only if you were willing to give up your thumbs. In that case, and pretty much only in that case, I can see your point
You're holding it wrong :) (Score:2)
Sorta kinda serious with the subject line. We've been conditioned over the years to be very precise about our steps in working with computers, especially as techies, because we know the limitations. Well, these tools actually remove multiple steps and we aren't taking advantage of it.
For example, when I first tried using it I would say "OK Google, directions to 1234 Main Street, Anytown, USA 21222 - then put in my location, then click navigate. Now, I say "OK Google, navigate to home" and that's it. Or "OK
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You're not going to get a point and click interface that performs better than voice recognition at its best. However it's trivial to make one that performs more consistently than voice recognition does, and consistency is a big thing. And then of course there's the worst case, where you tell your phone to "Navigate to the nearest gas station," and instead it dials a random person from your contacts.
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As a Star Trek geek, talking to my phone is the absolute coolest thing I've experienced in my life time. It also happens to be very useful. I'm juggling the kids, my hands are full, I wanna know if we can swing my a grocery store to get something, and I can just say "ok google, near me." Or if a group of friends are debating something technical or political. I just say "ok google, how many Korean immigrants traveled from Astana to Cairo in 2005" and people are often stunned because 15 minutes of debate
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I think "Hellooo, computer" in a Scottish accent would be more appropriate for you.
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Also, it's great in the car. Especially when listening to talk radio. "Ok google, did Donald Trump really say..."
Although in my living room, it does feel odd.
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Yeah, admittedly my opinion is skewed because I don't own a car, never see this use case.
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I think they finally gave up on that horse.
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Where are the commands processed? (Score:2)
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I find it interesting that it also works via a headset.. Oh boy, MS servers are going to seriously be working overtime sifting through all that online chatter that goes on in teamspeak...
You are starting to catch on... (Score:1)
2+2 = 4. Microsoft will be monitoring all verbal communication. Get it yet? Everything you say, whether to Cortana or not, will be monitored by an A.I. that is capable of extracting meaning from your sentences and adding that intel to your profile, for marketing (and government spying) purposes.
And before you go all "I have nothing to hide" realize that the greater value in this is gaining superior insight into trends, which in turn allows the data-holders to practice a form of insider trading. To make
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I like that you just "educated" me on something I didn't express ignorance of. Thank you, though. I guess.
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So the next big thing is getting people to run their mouth over something online. That should be fun to watch how it turns out.
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> This is the new world. Get used to it.
Quit being a pussy.
You have a choice -- stop using MS's )spying) crap.
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Only to process your search results--to add to your profile--which they then sell to advertisers.
Wait till you're playing Halo (Score:2)
And it picks up on Cortana and starts doing random things..
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As far as we know, no Kinect and no headset = no microphone.
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Why not? Get them all worked up when you lay out your fiendish terrorist plans on how and where to plant your next bomb, only to end it "Oh crap, forget it folks, we're gonna be the counterterrorists in this match".
Sure.. Why not? Allready stuffed by Bing! (Score:5, Insightful)
I bought a new xboxOne some time ago. the thing is so deeply integrated with Bing it makes me sick.
Now they are adding Cortana, presumably so they can use her amazing data mining capabilities for some undisclosed reason. Since she is basically the strapon for Bing, they might as well go all in, instead of just the tip.
Looks like it is time to look for the microphone and pour superglue into it. Good luck listening to me then Microsoft.
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Why would you pour superglue into the microphone instead of just removing it completely?
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Perhaps I want to play a kinect exclusive title, but dont want to feed microsoft's marketing division? I refuse to purchase titles that demand I talk to the console, but motion control can possibly be a useful feature in some game genres. (the new hand tracking features of kinect could be used in some interesting ways, which may be useful in immersive rpgs. I dont know what the future of this console holds in that respect.)
The "needs to be on the internet all the damned time" thing is barely tolerable if
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I bought a new xboxOne some time ago. the thing is so deeply integrated with Bing it makes me sick.
As someone who uses his Xbox One about once or twice a week I'm legitimately curious about what you're seeing. I've never seen anything which made me think "That's integrated with Bing".
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I find this difficult to believe, honestly. Bing integration is quite possibly the first thing I saw after the initial setup update process. Literally EVERYTHING related to searching and downloading is done with bing as the backend.
www.webpronews.com/heres-how-bing-works-on-xbox-one-2013-11/
Note the article is three years old. Can you imagine MS... reducing... its dependence on Bing, especially in light of putting Cortana on top, and locking down cortana to be bing exclusive on win10?
I didnt think so.
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Yeah, they put some "Search with Bing" nonsense instead of making it a generic "Search" field, but... it really bothers you that much?
I'm trying to figure out why MS wouldn't use their own search engine when you search for stuff on Xbox Live? Do you really expect the Xbox to use Google as a search provider? And what would that buy you when it's searching Xbox Live-specific databases? It's a closed ecosystem, you know.
There are plenty of things to criticize MS for... but using their own search engine on
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Bing's purpose for existing is not to provide simple search services.
Its purpose for existing is to get some of that delicious advertiser money, by being a gatekeeper to data useful to advertizers.
I did not have a problem with the OLD way that the 360 did searches. They were just searches. I was a user, not a product.
This implementation (bing everything, with hentai tentacles in every hole) neither asks me if I wish to be shown targeted advertisements, asks me if I want my searches included in metrics datab
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Looks like it is time to look for the microphone and pour superglue into it. Good luck listening to me then Microsoft.
the mic is either in Kinect, which you presumably don't have because of the privacy concerns, or in your headset, which isn't listening when it's not plugged in. It's not a big problem.
On the other hand, a lot of smart TVs now have voice control and may be listening to you, and your ToS probably gives the manufacturer the right to record all of your conversations.
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The smart TVs often have cameras in them too, for "light level control", but are much more than simple photodetectors. A thin smear of superglue fixes that problem too, and if thin enough, still allows light level detection.
I dont have a smart TV. That's what a settop box is for. It isnt like a Roku or apple tv eats a lot of space in the entertainment center.
My XboxOne is not easily jiggered with though. (has enough room around it for ventilation, but unplugging and replugging the kinect is a PITA.) I dont
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I have an XBox One and I game on it and sometimes I browse the menus, and I don't know if Bing has ever come up once. Why would I search for something on my console?
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You must not be very attentive, or must not use any dlc/market features.
The whole xbox market is integrated with bing. The recorded videos and shared content features are powered by bing. There is an integrated version of Edge, that sits permanently at Bing as the home page.
Do I need to continue, or is this sufficient?
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So....Bing doesn't come up unless you decide to use the XBox One as a web browser? Or use the XBox One to do social networking?
Sounds like no real problem for 90% of users.
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Are you being purposefully obtuse?
THE MARKET APP IS POWERED BY BING. When you search for a game or addon, the search is processed by Bing. That is why Cortanna can integrate with it seamlessly. The XboxOne suggests social media based on your play habbits, regardless of your subscription level or history playing online games. You can see that on the right side of the home screen when you select a recently played title from the quick list. That social media is powered by Bing.
That will affect nearly all users
Oh (Score:2)
how exiting, I am thoroughly thrilled...
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Why would you ever buy Microsoft anything?
and the alternative is a Sony platform that gets hacked frequently, a steam platform that's DOA and various MS Windows based PC platforms that ride on top of more MS spyware?
Clearly you've thought this comment out.
And what if they dont want it? (Score:3)
Better update (Score:2)
Bing (Score:2)
So.... (Score:1)
I'm waiting for the trolls... (Score:2)
It might be a little trickier to weave "Hey Cortana" into a gamertag, but i'm sure someone somewhere is smart enough to figure it out, and someone else is dumb enough to fall for it.